Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Good morning everyone! I thought I would pop in and share a card I made last week. My family is still here so I won't be posting much this week. But be sure to come back on Thursday for the Create with Connie and Mary challenge and then again on Friday for the Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge! We are having so much fun around here! We took in two exciting JUCO games yesterday and I hope that we get more in today. Nick has his soccer tryouts this week, too. And his baseball team is practicing as they have a tournament this weekend!

For my card today, I took a layout from my friend, Becky. It is one that we did in her card class last month. She used some new baker's twine and I wanted to do the same. But we only have a few colors of it so I knew that I wanted to go with Cherry Cobbler. So what goes with Cherry Cobbler to make it not look to Christmas-y. Well, the Color Coach said Daffodil Delight! I also used a bit of black to make it stand out. I have to say that I really like these colors together! I hope you all enjoy your week and thank you so much for stopping by!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Good Friday morning! Ahhhh! And it is a long weekend! For us it is extra special because it is the last day of school and my parents and my brother are coming out for a visit! We don't get to see them as often as we like. In fact we haven't seen them since Christmas! The JUCCO World Series starts this weekend and we are going to be watching a lot of baseball! Fun, fun, fun!! But Friday also means that there is another wonderful sketch challenge from Sketch Frenzy Friday! This week's sketch is brought to us by Tina Taves. Take a look:

So simple and so many possibilities! Here is what I finally came up with:

﻿I hope it doesn't look too fall like (because I am not ready for fall just yet). I started with a card base of Garden Green. Then I ran a piece of Cajun Craze through the Big Shot with the square lattice embossing folder and sponged it. This gets glued to the card. Then I cut a 3 1/2" circle from Crumb Cake and stamped my greeting from Thoughts & Prayers in Early Espresso. The circle is sponged with Crumb Cake. Then I got my Lovely as a Tree stamp set out and dusted it off (literally) and stamped the leaves in Garden Green on Very Vanilla cardstock. I cut them out and sponged a little Wild Wasabi over them to give them a little more color. I popped these up on the circle and the circle is popped up on the card. The last thing I did was to punch a flower from Cajun Craze using the itty bitty shapes punch pack. I put the flower right over the acorn and added a basic pearl. And there you have it!

So now I am going to send you off to see what Jennifer has done with this sketch. Be sure to click your way through the tour to get inspired! By doing this, you will eventually end up at the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog where you are able to upload your creation! I do hope that you will find time to play along this week! I love looking at all your wonderful creations! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Good morning! Thursday already!! I sure hope that you will find some time to play along this week with the challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! This week they are challenging us with colors. Take a look:

Aren't these colors fun? I think so!! This challenge is with the colors Peach Parfait, Baja Breeze, and Riding Hood Red. Riding Hood Red is a color that I don't use as much but it sure is a great color! Might have to find more to do with this color! So here is what I came up with:

﻿So Fabulous Florets is such a super great stamp set! I love it! So I pulled it out and went from there. My card base is Baja Breeze and I cut another piece of Baja Breeze, tied a piece of Whisper White taffeta ribbon around that. Then I stamped a flower in Baja Breeze and inked up part of the 'hello' greeting from Happy Greetings in Riding Hood Red and stamped that over the flower. I took a piece of Whisper White cardstock and stamped my flowers in Peach Parfait, Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze in a random pattern and even let them overlap. Then I cut this piece into panels and mounted them onto a piece of Riding Hood Red. This panel is popped up. The last thing I did was to punch a flower from Peach Parfait using the itty bitty shapes punch and add a rhinestone! I really like how this card turned out! And it was so easy to do!

Be sure to visit the Create with Connie and Mary website to see even more wonderful inspiration! Then create your own project using these fun colors and post it to their website so we can all see! I really love to see your creations! You all really do inspire me! Thanks for stopping by and have a super great day!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Good morning, Friends! I can't believe that we are already at the middle of the week! I am looking forward to the weekend. I could have slept another three hours this morning! And this weekend my parents and brother will be here and I will get to sleep in! Only three more days of school left, too! Nick played in a baseball game last night and they won! This is a team that asked Nick to fill in for a few players that got injured. After that game the coaches wanted to play another game as a make-up game and that one ended up getting rained out! I am not sure what they will do with that. Anyway, it was a fun evening!

Today's card is one that I did for a recent swap I was in. I used different parts of different layouts to come up with this one. And I used my Color Coach for the colors. These are not colors I would normally put together but I rather like them on this card! Anyway, it was fun and doesn't look too bad either! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Good morning, Friends! I just can not believe that my son only has four more days of school! He is so excited! My parents and my brother will be visiting over the holiday and they should get here on his last day of school so he really can't wait!! We have just had such a busy weekend with the soccer tournament (which they did o.k. with) and then baseball in the evenings. We really felt like we didn't get a weekend. But it was so much fun! And, thankfully, Saturday and Sunday were the nicest days that we had all week! I got a pretty good sunburn! So now it's time to make sure the house is "livable" - lol! But not before I go and get a pedicure!!

Today's card was inspired by the layout at Clean & Simple - FTL 141. A great layout and one that will be used time and again. I used the Flower Fest stamp set and cut out the different layers of the flower. The scallop punch will punch out the flower but I liked the look of it being cut out instead. The layers of the flower are popped up to add a little dimension. Not a new idea but the first for me! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Good morning, Friends! Are you ready for a great weekend? It has literally rained every day this week! Yikes!! But the sun is supposed to shine today and that's a good thing because there is a huge soccer tournament here in town this weekend! In fact, I have pre-posted this because Nick's first game is early!

Before I get to my card I wanted to share the links and instructions to the faux leather wallet that I made for the Control Freaks blog tour. I have been getting quite a few questions and wanted to get them all answered! So here you go! First of all you can find basic instructions for a kind of wallet here. These instructions also tell you one way to make it look like faux leather. I did mine a little different. I covered my wallet with VersaMark ink and then poured clear embossing powder over that. Then I took my bone folder and "drew" lines in the embossing powder before I heated it. The instructions for the wallet I made comes from Lorri Heiling and can be found here. I hope this helps everyone!

O.k. So on to my card! Because of the Control Freaks blog tour yesterday, I couldn't participate in the Sketch Frenzy Friday mini blog tour. It is such a great sketch that I couldn't pass it up so I decided to make it up for today! The sketch was made by Tammy Fite. And I do hope that you all will find time to play along this week! Here is the sketch:

And here is what I came up with:

﻿I did have fun making this card! It is bright and cherry! I need some fun bright colors as the weather has been quite dark and dreary. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Hello my Freaky Friends! It's the 20th of the month and that means another wonderful Freaky tour!! Are you ready? Weather you started here or landed here from Gretchen Barron's blog, you are in the right place! By the way, weren't Gretchen's projects wonderful? Love them!! This month the freaks are focusing on Father's Day/masculine projects. So sit back and enjoy the tour!

So my first project is a simple card. I don't know many men that like a lot of fuss and frills so I kept it very simple and used some very masculine colors. Now I must tell you that I do not own The Open Sea stamp set nor do I have any of the Nautical paper! I also did not borrow these products from my friends! These images were printed off from my computer using My Digital Studio! Cool, huh! I used a sketch from Splitcoast and then figured out which images I wanted and in what color. I can also make these images any size I want! I am not limited to the size the stamps come in! So I printed out the compasses, the anchor and the designer paper on Whisper White cardstock. The background image was printed on Sahara Sand cardstock with Sahara Sand ink (or pretty close to it depending on your printer). I am having a lot of fun making hybrid cards! I did stamp the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Basic Gray.

My next project is one that has been around for a few years and I found some instructions from Splitcoast. Take a look:

It's a Father's Day wallet! While I did find the instructions on Splitcoast, I remember the faux leather look that a demonstrator had shown at convention a few years ago and gave it a try here. Even my son was impressed! The label was printed off using My Digital Studio. And this image is larger than the punch so I cut it out by hand and added some hardware. It is popped up on the front of the wallet. Let's take a look at what's inside:

Pockets full of goodies!! I really wanted a Home Depot or a Lowe's gift card but I didn't have one on hand. And then the largest bill I could find was a $1 bill - LOL! My son said he had a $20 bill but he didn't tell me. Stinker!! Anyway, I think it is so fun and would make any man a happy man!

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed these projects! Time for you to move on and see what the famous and genius and super talented Jan has made for you to oooh and aaah over. Have a super wonderful day!
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Good morning, Friends! It's Thursday and time for the Create with Connie and Mary challenge! This week they have come up with a fabulous sketch challenge!! Take a look:

Isn't it just fantastic? I love this sketch!! I am so looking forward to using this one again and again! Here is what I came up with:

The jury is still out on my card. I don't hate it but I just couldn't make anything else work. You will notice that I did leave off a couple of elements. I started with a card base of Pear Pizzazz. Then I cut down a piece of Not Quite Navy and another piece of Pear Pizzazz. I wrapped a piece of Pear Pizzazz poly twill ribbon around these and glued it down to the card. I stamped the motor scooter from On the Grow stamp set, on a piece of shimmery white cardstock with black StazOn and watercolored it using Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy, and Peach Parfait inks and an aqua painter (I also used a little Sahara Sand and Basic Gray). I punched a Peach Parfait flower with the Boho Blossoms and a Not Quite Navy 1/2" circle. This is glued behind the watercolored piece and both are mounted onto the card. I added a clear button with some white baker's twine. Then I stamped the greeting from the same set in Basic Black onto shimmery white cardstock and punched it out with the Word Window punch. This is mounted onto a piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock that was punched with the Modern Label punch and the whole thing is popped up onto the card. And there you have it!!

Now it's time for you to check out the Create with Connie and Mary site to see what the rest of the very talented design team has come up with! Then it's your turn! Create a project using the sketch that has been provided and upload it to the Create with Connie and Mary website so we all can have a look. I can't wait to see what you come up with! Have a super day!!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Good morning everyone! Boy I hate being a slacker but I sure have been these last few weeks! And I really need to get busy, busy stamping!! My allergies have been kicking my butt this last week! UGH!! Finally, last night, I think I had a break-through. I blew my nose and I could breathe!! And I slept awesome!! And this morning my ears are even opening up and my head doesn't hurt! Could I really be feeling better? I hope so!! Can you believe that it is supposed to rain all week and barely get out of the 60's? The central mountains are even under a winter advisory!!! Ha! It is the middle of May, right? Well, at least it won't be so stinkin' hot this weekend when Nick's team plays their soccer tournament. That will be nice!

O.k. I am so excited to share my card today!! I downloaded some new images for My Digital Studio yesterday and I was determined to make a card with them! You see, Friday is the Control Freak monthly blog tour and the theme is Father's Day/masculine projects. Well, I needed some more variety so I went digital! Lots of people are doing it (lol). Anyway, for this card I printed off the sailboat image on Crumb Cake cardstock. The image is actually in Early Espresso ink (or pretty darn close - depends on your printer). And that strip of designer paper? Yup! That's printed off, too!! I added some white highlights to the boat with my gel pen. The greeting and punch and sponging and baker's twine and cardstock are all my additions as well. I love it! Getting the digital images makes it so that you can have the stamp in any size! And the digital images take up less room - lol!! I am excited to do more of these kind of cards! Make sure to stop by tomorrow for the Create with Connie and Mary Thursday challenge and then on Friday for the Control Freak blog tour! Have a super day!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Good morning, Friends! I am so excited about the weekend being here! It looks to be another fabulous one! Last weekend we were in Durango for a soccer tournament and it was fabulous! The weather was perfect! And the boys didn't do too bad. We got home and the first two days of the week were cold and wet! Now it is warming up once again!

This is the card I sent to my mother-in-law and my mom. I love how this Bold Blossom set is so easy to use!! And the new triple layer blossom bouquet punch goes perfectly with it! Of course, they got sent out late. They should have reached their destination by now so I thought I would show them here. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Good Friday morning! Sketch Frenzy Friday has another great sketch for us to try! This week's sketch is brought to us by Patrice Herrera. I hope that you will find time to play along with us this week. So without further delay, here is the sketch:

So many possibilities and ways to interpret this sketch. And here is what I finally came up with:

﻿I immediately saw myself using the wide striped ribbon for this sketch. I picked out my favorite color combination - vanilla and black and went from there. My card base is Very Vanilla that is sponged with Crumb Cake. I cut another piece of Very Vanilla and ran that through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and then sponged the edges and the raised areas with Crumb Cake and wrapped a piece of the black striped wide ribbon around it and glued it to the front of my card. I used a piece of the baker's twine and tied it around the ribbon to make it look gathered. For the focal point I decided to use the Fun Flower die. So I cut the flowers from Basic Black and Very Vanilla cardstock and from the First Edition designer paper. I curled the petals, sponged the edges in Crumb Cake, and glued them together. The flower is popped up on the card. To finish off the flower, I took a piece of Very Vanilla narrow taffeta ribbon, threaded it through a black button, and tied a knot. This is glued to the center of the flower. I was going to add a greeting but decided not to. A card for any occasion!! So no stamping was done on this card.

Now I send you on to Jennifer's blog to see what she came up with for the sketch challenge. Be sure to click your way through the mini blog tour to be inspired. Then be sure to visit the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog to add your creation! We love it when you play along! And I love to see your creations! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Good morning! And welcome to another great Thursday challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! They are just having way too much fun over there with getting ready for their Create Summer Edition and all! I think there might be something about blog candy and a guest designer? Hmmm... Better go check it out!! And of course we would love for you to play along in our regular Thursday challenge. This week it is a color challenge. Here are the colors that we are using for this week - Poppy Parade, Sahara Sand, and Not Quite Navy.

I thought that these colors were perfect for a more masculine look! So I came up with a 'thank you' card for my son's teacher who happens to be a male! Take a look:

I started with a card base of Sahara Sand. I decided that I would use the level 2 hostess set, Apple Blossoms. So I took a piece of Whisper White and cut it down the way I wanted it. I stamped the circles background stamp to the left in Sahara Sand. Then I took some scrap piece of Whisper White and stamped the apple in Poppy Parade (and, yes, you do see some green in there for the stem but we won't talk too much about that - lol) and cut it out. On another piece of scrap Whisper White I stamped the greeting from Thank You Kindly in Not Quite Navy and glued it down. I glued the Whisper White panel to a Not Quite Navy panel. I put two silver brads underneath the greeting and popped this panel up onto the card. The apple is popped up as well. And there you have it! A super simple 'thank you' card for my son's teacher. The school year is quickly coming to a close and I can't let it go by without saying 'thank you'! Now to get my son to write inside it...

So I hope that I have gotten you super excited to see what is going on at Create with Connie and Mary! There are so many super wonderful things in the Summer mini catalog and Connie and Mary, along with some very fabulous designers are putting together a great Create Summer Edition! You don't want to miss this! The preview period and early bird pricing is coming to a close. When you leave a comment at their site you are entered to win blog candy!! There is also a surprise coming as well! And while you are there... be sure to play along in our challenge. We love it when you do! I just love to see all your wonderful creations! Lots to see and do at Create with Connie and Mary! I hope to see you there! Have a super day!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Good morning, Friends! Boy have I been a real slacker lately! I have been running out of stamping time and then when I have some I am working on my design team projects. Yesterday I made myself make one card. I hope to get the mojo going again to make several today. We will see. I decided to use Mary Jo's lunchtime sketch to get me going for this card. Here is her sketch:

And here is my card:

It was really hard not to reach for my flowers for this one. But I was looking for something different. The LNS challenge this week is to make masculine cards. I think this qualifies! This dirt bike stamp has come in so handy at my house! My son just loves it!!

Remember that Mary Jo does a blog hop for her challenges so you can upload your card right here! And you can see what everyone else has done, too! Pretty cool! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Hello Friends! Are you glad it's Friday!!! I am! We will be leaving later this afternoon for Durango because Nick's soccer team is playing in a tournament down there this weekend. I am really excited because it has been a while since we have done a tournament. And the weather looks to be wonderful! But enough of that. It's time for a Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch. This week's sketch is brought to us by Sharon Field. Take a look:

And here is what I came up with:

﻿There is a lot going on here! Not my usual style but that's what challenges are for, right? :) Anyway... I used the Strength & Hope set and started with a card base of Wild Wasabi. To that I added a piece of So Saffron that I ran through the Big Shot using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. Then I added a piece of Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon and glued this to the card. I cut a circle from Confetti Cream cardstock using the 3" circle die. I stamped the flourish image in So Saffron several times lightly and then sponged the edges. This is popped up on the card. I stamped the butterfly in Regal Rose and then sponged the stamp with Rose Red to highlight the edges. The leaves are cut using Wild Wasabi cardstock and the Little Leaves sizzlet. I punched the little flowers with the itty bitty shapes punch pack and So Saffron and Rose Red cardstock and added some pearls. The leaves and flowers are glued down flat. The butterfly has an antique brad and is popped up. The last thing I did was to stamp the words in So Saffron on Confetti Cream and then the "Hope" in Rose Red right on top. I punched it out with the designer label punch and sponged it. I also punched a Rose Red 1 3/8" circle out to highlight the "Hope". This is popped up over the ribbon. And there you have it!

Click 'here' to see what Jennifer did with this sketch. Continue through the tour and see what the team came up with to get inspired. Then make your creation and upload it to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog so we can all see! I think the kinks are all worked out! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Good Thursday morning, Friends! It's time for another Create with Connie and Mary challenge! This week they are challenging us with a sketch. Check it out:

And here is what I came up with:

﻿Love the sketch! So many possibilities! So I went with a new stamp set from the Summer mini catalog. I started with a card base of Old Olive and then added a piece of designer paper from the Beyond the Garden pack. Then I took a piece of Basic Black and cut a scallop from the Tasteful Trim die. I wrapped a piece of white baker's twine around this and added a rhinestone brad. Then this was glued down. I took the floral stamp from the On the Grow set and stamped it on shimmery white paper with StazOn ink and watercolored the image with coordinating colors and my aqua painter. I mounted this onto a piece of Basic Black and then popped it up onto the card. I wanted to add a sentiment on the front but I couldn't make it look quite right so I will add it to the inside. But it was quite easy and very fun! Can't wait to use this layout again!!

So now it's your turn to play along with us! Go make a card using this fabulous sketch and upload it to the Create with Connie and Mary blog so we can all see! And while you are there, be sure to check out the rest of the design team! They always come up with really fantastic creations! Also, Connie and Mary are getting everyone excited about Create Summer Edition! I can't wait for it to start! If you subscribe now you can get in on the early bird pricing so be sure to check it all out at Create with Connie and Mary! I hope to see you there! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Good morning everyone! I hope your week is going by just super! Nick is super excited that today is early release at school and that he has tomorrow and Friday off. It is Parent/Teacher conference time around here so that is why. I get to meet with his teacher tomorrow. The last one before he heads off to middle school! I hope to get some stamping done. We will see.

I finally had a chance to sit and do a sketch from Mary Jo. I haven't done one in a while and I was glad to get back into it! Here is the sketch she has for us this week:

Great, huh!!! And here is what I came up with:

Too fun! I had fun making this card! I am loving these new triple layer punches!! My card base is Pear Pizzazz and my strips are Pear Pizzazz that I sponged with Pear Pizzazz ink. I layered the strips onto another piece of Pear Pizzazz cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder. Then I wrapped a piece of Poppy Parade ribbon around that and glued it to my card. I used the Bold Blossom set and stamped the flower stems in Pear Pizzazz onto Whisper White cardstock at different heights and then inked just the 'thank you' part in Poppy Parade. This piece is glued down flat. Then I punched three flowers with my new Blossom Bouquet triple layer punch - layer two with So Saffron and layer three with Poppy Parade. I put a So Saffron flower brad in each one and popped them up on my card. The last touches were to add a little white baker's twine and a rhinestone in the centers of the flower brads.

Now, I encourage you to play along with this fun sketch! I have provided the links below for you to just enter your creation from my blog! It is like a little blog hop! I hope to see your creation! Thanks for stopping by!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Good morning everyone! I hope your week is starting off wonderfully! Last night we went to Nick's future Middle School to have orientation. Yikes! What happened? Is he really supposed to be this old? Am I - lol! It is really amazing how fast they grow up! And he is definitely starting to act like a middle schooler! Ugh! Anyway, it was very interesting and I am excited to see how he does next year. He says he is ready! I hope so!

Today's project is not a card!! I decided to try my hand at making these bookmarks. I have seen them in a lot of different places but I used Connie's tutorial 'here' to make these. They are really easy and a lot of fun! I wanted to use the First Edition designer paper so that piece is glued to a Very Vanilla piece to give some strength and stability. One bookmark was finished off with a black button and Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon and the other with an antique brad. I hope you check out the tutorial and make one for yourself, too! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Good morning, Friends! I hope you had the most wonderful weekend! I can't believe that we are into the first week of May!! Mostly because we have had freeze warnings for the past two mornings and could have another tomorrow morning as well. Yikes! The poor fruit growers around here are kept very busy during these nights. I do hope we will have some good fruit this summer. We had a very busy and productive weekend! Nick's soccer game got cancelled on Saturday. We were really bummed about that but we did some serious cleaning in his bedroom and game room areas and purchased some new furniture pieces that we have been needing to get. Like a real bed for his room! He was so excited about that! My husband also did some landscaping to our yard. And, while we are not finished with everything, we made some real progress! So I have been a real slacker in the stamping department. I did manage to do some cards last week. I do hope to find some more time this week and see if I can get my mojo back.

Today's card was inspired by a sketch from Karen Giron. It is from a few weeks ago so I didn't post it to her site but I still liked the simple sketch. I really liked this little stamp from the new Summer mini catalog and thought it would work great for this sketch. It is pretty simple! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

This is me!

About Me

I am a wife to a wonderful, hard-working husband of 20 years, a mom to a very energetic boy and a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I love to spend time with my family watching baseball games, camping, 4-wheeling as well as winter activities like skiing and snowmobiling.